How do you define joy?

I write a regular column for The Criterion (weekly newspaper of the Archdiocese of Indianapolis) called “The Face of Mercy” that contains my reflections on the teaching of Pope Francis.

Here is a selection from this month’s column. To read the complete article, click on the link below  

Pope Francis sees joy as the opposite of self-centeredness. He says, quoting Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, later Pope Benedict XVI, that the temptations which affect Christians frequently include individualism, a crisis of identity and a cooling of fervor, with the greatest threat of all being “the gray pragmatism of the daily life of the Church, in which all appears to proceed normally, which in reality faith is wearing down.”

The Holy Father warns against “defeatism,” urging Christians to be signs of hope, bringing about a “revolution of tenderness.” He tells us that it is necessary to seek refuge from the “spirituality of well-being … detached from responsibility for our brothers and sisters,” and to vanquish the “spiritual worldliness that consists of seeking not the Lord’s glory but human glory and well-being.”

Joy is not the result of satisfying our human needs or desires. It comes from carrying out God’s will through self-surrender and loving service of our brothers and sisters, especially those who are most in need of our help.

Gospel joy is found in “spirit-filled evangelizers, those who are fearlessly open to the working of the Holy Spirit and who have the courage to proclaim the newness of the Gospel with boldness (parrhesía) in every time and place, even when it meets with opposition.” Joy is experienced by “evangelizers who pray and work in the knowledge that their mission is at once a passion for Jesus and a passion for his people.”

http://www.archindy.org/criterion/local/2017/10-27/mercy.html